A programmable thermostat is a thermostat designed to adjust the temperature according to a series of programmed settings that take effect at different times of the day. In recent years, programmable thermostats have become increasingly popular as their use may result in energy savings of up to 30%. To do so, programmable thermostats reduce the amount of heating/cooling provided by the heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system responsible for conditioning the air within a space. For example, during the cooling season, a programmable thermostat used in a home may be programmed to allow the temperature in the house to rise during the workday when no one will be at home but begin cooling the house prior to the arrival of the occupants, thereby allowing the house to be cooled down to the appropriate temperature setting upon the arrival of the occupants while having saved energy during the peak outdoor temperatures. Conversely, during the heating season, the programmable thermostat may be set to allow the temperature in the house to drop when the house is unoccupied during the day and also at night after all occupants have gone to bed and re-heating the house prior to the occupants arriving home in the evening or waking up in the morning.
A basic programmable thermostat implements a single program with two events (a warmer period and a colder period) that run every day. More sophisticated programmable thermostats allow four (or more) warm and/or cold periods, commonly referred to as “Wake”, “Leave”, “Return” and “Sleep” events to be set each day, each of which may be set to a unique temperature. Other programmable thermostats implement the same functions but are more versatile in that, rather than the single cycle that characterizes the more basic thermostats, they may include a “5-2” setting (which provides for separate weekday and weekend schedules), a “5-1-1” setting (which provides for separate Saturday and Sunday schedules or a “7 day” setting (which provides for a separate schedule for each day of the week. Further, while some programmable thermostats have separate heating and cooling programs, others employ a single program capable of selecting between the heating and cooling units. Still others include notification and/or alert functionality. For example, some programmable thermostats are capable of issuing notifications that the air filters need to be replaced. Moreover, programmable thermostats are expected to continue to increase in sophistication in future years.
As programmable thermostats have become more sophisticated, not only have the operators of programmable thermostats been expected to monitor or otherwise access increasingly greater numbers of thermostat settings, their ability to access selected thermostat settings are often impaired by the display of the increased number of thermostat settings available for programming. Those skilled in the art should appreciate, therefore, the need for programmable controllers that enables an operator to readily access selected thermostat settings. Accordingly, disclosed herein is such a programmable controller.